novelraw Chapter 198 Don't Make the Same Mistake Again
Chapter 198 Don't Make the Same Mistake Again
Lian Bichen's voice was very calm, as if she were saying something that was taken for granted.
"Ranran, this child cannot be kept." She looked at Lu Xiran's belly, her gaze as calm as if she were examining an object that shouldn't exist. "The child in her belly is of the Gu family bloodline. But the Gu family bloodline can only have one heir."
Jin Qiqi trembled all over, from her fingers down to her shoulders. "Mom, what are you saying?" Her voice had changed; it was no longer the Jin Qiqi who could whine and act spoiled, but someone who had been suddenly pushed into an abyss, desperately trying to grab onto something.
Lian Bichen looked at her. His gaze held none of its usual gentleness or affection, only a chilling indifference that Jin Qiqi had never seen before, one that froze her blood. It was as if he were looking at a stranger, or as if he were looking at a tool.
"Qiqi, let go."
"I won't let go!" Jin Qiqi's voice was shrill and distorted, tears already streaming down her face, but she gripped her mother-in-law's hand tightly, her nails digging into her flesh. "If you touch her, I will never forgive you for the rest of my life!"
"You don't understand." Lian Bichen sighed, as if coaxing an ignorant child. "Everything Mom did was for you, for Yanxu, for Yinuo, for this family."
"I don't need it!" Jin Qiqi's tears fell. "Mom, please, let her go."
Lian Bichen didn't move. Her gaze passed over Jin Qiqi and landed on Lu Xiran. Lu Xiran was slowly moving towards the door, one step, two steps, her palm already touching the cold brass doorknob.
A flicker of hesitation crossed Lian Bichen's eyes. Just a moment. Then she abruptly flung Jin Qiqi's hand away, the force so great that Jin Qiqi fell to the ground, her knees hitting the floor with a thud. The lamp slipped from Lian Bichen's grasp, crashing onto the carpet, its shade shattering, glass beads scattering everywhere.
The moment Lu Xiran's hand touched the doorknob, Lian Bichen grabbed the back of her collar tightly. The force was extraordinary, like an iron clamp, like shackles, pulling her backward.
"Second Aunt, the child is innocent." Lu Xiran's voice trembled, but she didn't cry. Her eyes revealed despair, a despair not for herself, but for the little life in her womb that she hadn't even had a chance to embrace.
She couldn't; she couldn't afford to lose even this last bit of hope.
Lian Bichen looked at her. There was no hatred, no anger in her eyes, only a chilling calm. Like an executioner carrying out a verdict, devoid of any personal emotion.
"Ranran, I'm sorry." She pulled and dragged Lu Xiran to the bedside table, reaching for the glass of orange juice with her other hand.
Jin Qiqi scrambled to her feet, lunged forward, and knocked the glass of orange juice to the ground. The glass shattered, spilling orange juice all over the floor and soaking into the carpet.
Lian Bichen glared angrily at Jin Qiqi, a crack finally appearing in her gaze—not regret, but madness. "Then don't blame me!"
She grabbed the bedside lamp abruptly. The metal base and ceramic lampshade were broken, the sharp edges of the broken shade protruding. She raised it and hurled it at Lu Xiran. Jin Qiqi lunged forward, shielding Lu Xiran with her body, desperately protecting her.
The door was kicked open.
Gu Yanxu rushed in and saw the scene—his mother holding a lamp, his wife protecting Lu Xiran, and the floor littered with fallen glass beads and orange juice—he froze as if struck by lightning.
"Mom! What are you doing!"
Lian Bichen's hand froze in mid-air. She turned to look at her son. In that instant, her expression changed—no longer indifference, no longer madness, but a sorrow Jin Qiqi had never seen before, as if it had been rehearsed countless times. Tears welled up without warning, her voice trembling, like that of every mother misunderstood by her children.
"Yan Xu, you've come at the right time." She pointed at Lu Xiran, "She's trying to harm us. She's pregnant and wants to steal everything that belongs to you."
Jin Qiqi held onto Lian Bichen's hand tightly, not daring to let go for a moment, and desperately shouted, "Yan Xu, no! Your mother is going to hurt Ranran! She's going to harm the baby in her belly!"
Gu Yanxu looked at his mother, then at his wife, and then at Lu Xiran's hand protecting her stomach.
"Mom, please let Ranran go." His voice trembled. "We can talk about the rest later."
Lian Bichen looked at her son, her tears flowing even more freely. "Yanxu, you don't understand..."
"Mom!" Gu Yanxu roared, his eyes red-rimmed, "Don't make another mistake!"
Jin Qiqi was stunned. She looked up at Gu Yanxu, the man she had shared a bed with for three years, and suddenly felt like a stranger.
"What did you say?" Her voice was very soft, as if she were asking something she wasn't sure about. "What do you know?"
Lian Bichen looked at Jin Qiqi with an indescribable look in her eyes, a mixture of pity and admonition. "Qiqi, now that you've married Yan Xu, you need to think about his future." Her voice softened, as if she were stating a principle. "As long as Lu Xiran doesn't have a child, as long as she leaves Gu Yanshen, then Gu Yanshen will just be a tool for the Gu family to make money. With his abilities, how much value will he create for the Gu family? And everything the Gu family will have in the future depends on Yi Nuo."
"Mom!" Gu Yanxu pleaded, his eyes red-rimmed. "I told you, this isn't what I want, and Yinuo doesn't need it either. Mom, please stop!"
"Impossible!" Lian Bichen's voice suddenly rose, sharp and distorted, like a string stretched for too long finally snapping. "Never! I hate the Gu family! I hate Gu Qisheng! I've endured so many years, endured so long—and you want me to let go?!"
There were no tears in her eyes, only a kind of madness that was almost unbearable to look at, a madness that seemed to burn her to ashes.
She suddenly grabbed the lamp, raised it high, and smashed it at Lu Xiran.
Gu Yanxu rushed forward. He stood in front of Lu Xiran, shielding her and Jin Qiqi with his body.
The lamp smashed against the back of his head. The sound of shattering ceramic was dull and heavy, like something breaking. Gu Yanxu swayed but didn't fall. He stood there, like a wall, shielding the two women behind him.
Blood flowed from his hair, down the back of his neck, and soaked into his shirt collar.
Jin Qiqi froze. She stared at him, watching the red streak meander down his hair, dripping onto his shoulder and the carpet. She opened her mouth, wanting to call out to him, but her throat felt blocked by something, and no sound came out.
"Yan Xu..." Lian Bichen's hand froze in mid-air, her pupils contracting sharply as she looked at the bloody gash on her son's head. "Yan Xu, why...why didn't you dodge?"
Gu Yanxu turned around and looked at her. Blood was still flowing, dripping onto his eyelashes and blurring his vision. He didn't wipe it away.
"Mom, that's enough." His voice was very soft, as if he were saying something he was finally admitting. "That's really enough."
Lian Bichen's hands began to tremble.
She raised her head, her eyes devoid of guilt or regret, only filled with something deeper, more intense, almost consuming her—hatred. That hatred wasn't directed at Jin Qiqi, nor at Gu Yanxu, but at Lu Xiran, at the unborn child in her womb, at all the grievances she had swallowed over the past thirty years, all the resentment she had endured, all the days she thought would get better if she just persevered.
Her hand gripped the lamp tightly again.